Former elections commissioner Ralph Ramkarran says there is no reason why the unofficial election results from the planned May 11 polls cannot be known and accepted within two days if a system of electronic transmission of results from presiding officers to Gecom is established and those results compiled and announced by the electoral body.
Criticising the “extensive” delay in the result for the 2011 elections, Ramkarran said the “obsession” by the parties with announcing results that are physically certified and Gecom’s “pandering” to this is a “function of the suspicions about elections.” In his column in the last Sunday Stabroek, Ramkarran stated that this happens nowhere else. Results from the November 28, 2011 general elections here were made available on December 1, 2011.
“In most established democracies, overall winners and losers are announced on the basis of unofficial election results, a claim of victory by the winner(s) and a conceding to defeat by the loser(s). The usual swearing in of a British Prime Minister the day after general elections is not on the basis of official results. The winner of the US presidential and many other
